


Noir Drabbles

by used_songs



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-06
Updated: 2010-09-06
Packaged: 2017-10-11 12:48:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/112585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/used_songs/pseuds/used_songs





	Noir Drabbles

1\. Hollow Triumph - Owen

Paul Henereid: You're a bitter little lady.  
Joan Bennett: It's a bitter little world.

"Owen, you should really do something about that bitter exterior," she says spitefully as she walks away on her exit line.

It's a bitter little world. Maybe that's why I always have my game face on. Maybe that's why I play it hard. I'm not here to make you feel better about yourself. I'm here to survive and to do my job.

Don't get in my way and we'll be fine.

 

2\. Farewell, My Lovely - Owen

Dick Powell: A black pool opened up at my feet. I dived in. It had no bottom.

I heard the echo of the shot. A black pool opened up in my head and I dived in. It had no bottom and I felt myself falling, tumbling. I felt myself extinguishing, gasping, bleeding. I felt the cold ground inside of me giving way.

And then I felt myself dragged back for a moment, bloodied fingers grasping at the edge of the world. They tried to hold me there, but I am gone.

 

3\. The Big Combo - Ianto

Cornell Wilde: I treated her like a pair of gloves. When I was cold, I called her up.

His voice over the phone, saying, "Ianto, can you come back to the Hub?" And then he gets husky and slow. "I miss you."

And me? I can't stay away. Even though I know I am nothing and no one and just a pastime for him, something to keep the cold at bay. I can't stay away.

 

4\. Clash by Night - Gwen

Barbara Stanwyck: Last time I looked, you had a wife.  
Robert Ryan: Maybe next time you look, I won't.  
Barbara Stanwyck: That's what they all say.

"Last time I looked, you had someone to go home to," he said, quirking an eyebrow. "Go home, Gwen." And he turned his back.

She said softly, as he walked away, pausing him, her finger on the button, "Maybe next time you look, I won't."

Without turning, he said wearily, "You don't mean that. Go home."

 

5\. The Big Steal - Tosh

Jane Greer to Robert Mitchum: What I like about you is you're rock bottom. I wouldn't expect you to understand this, but it's a great comfort for a girl to know she could not possibly sink any lower.

Tosh watched Owen in the dark reflection of her screen. After everything, was it possible to sink any lower? Owen was the kind to despise weakness in others, and this mooning after him was true weakness.

In a way, though, it's a comfort to have that emptiness in the center of her chest. It's something to hold onto when she gets lonely or when she's sad or when the night is too dark.

 

6\. Clash by Night - Jack

Barbara Stanwych to Keith Andes: What do you want, Joe, my life history? Here it is in four words: big ideas, small results.

How can it be? How can I have lived so long and have accomplished so little? Just twisting along the gutter of life, picking up scraps. Big ideas. Fight the battles. Defend the earth. Be like him. And every death a small death, insignificant in the universe. Small results. Coming back the same every single time. Why am I never transformed? Just more tired and more beaten down.

Whistling in the dark. No. Whistling while waiting for the dark.


End file.
